Ex-owner of Afghanistan marble mine indicted on fraud

WASHINGTON (AP) — The former owner of a mining company in Afghanistan has been indicted on charges of defrauding a U.S. government agency and defaulting on a loan of nearly $16 million.

Federal prosecutors say Azam Doost, 39, most recently of Union City, California, was arrested Tuesday at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The indictment was returned on June 7 and unsealed Friday. It charges Doost, who also is known as Adam Doost, Mohammad Azam Doost and Mohammad Azim, with wire fraud, false statements on loan applications, and money laundering.

Doost owned Equity Capital Mining LLC, a marble mining company in Afghanistan. He and others got a $15.8 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, according to the indictment. The loan was for the development, maintenance and operation of a marble mine in western Afghanistan.

Doost and others transferred money from the loan to personal accounts, then claimed not to have enough money to make payments, prosecutors said.